callmegustie on etsy

I have finally made my first listing on etsy.

Being at home with my two young children I have decided to begin crafting scandi inspired designs and set up a work from home. I love the process of making and draw inspiration from the everyday as well as my Swedish heritage.

Out of my love for scandinavian and nordic design styles, colours and form, Stoccie Blue was born. Christmas is my absolute favourite holiday of the year and so I made a Christmas stocking out of burlap and cotton fabric. It is neat and rustic and blends in nicely in homes that are decorated with earthy colours and tones.

Stoccie Blue is the first in a series of stockings to come so stay tuned.


You can purchase Stoccie Blue here

Light my pulp

A lovely design process by Enrique Romero de la Llana. The designer created these lamp shades using old newspapers, mixing them into a paste and drying them out into various simple and organic forms. I have totally developed a fetish for lamp shades these days!

Over at Design Milk, they observed the upcycling of the newspaper into a somewhat celebration of the tree that once was the paper. I find this to be the case because of the texture that the designer achieved for the lamps. It  reminds me of old gnarly and fairy like trees.

Images below from design milk

Ebony Bizys - Everyday Tokyo

These photos by graphic designer Ebony Bizys are just the type of everyday landscape that I am researching for my own design projects.

I love how this landscape of pots and interior furniture and fittings represents ordinary everyday life of the city's inhabitants and their desire to make a mark on their surroundings. Claiming a little bit of space, growing, nursing and caring for a little bit of life, a small scale intervention in a 21st century large scale city. You might want to check out: urban interior, a group of researchers based in Melbourne that recently released a book exploring the idea of urban interior.

image via otherpeopleshouses

image via otherpeopleshouses

image via hellosandwich

image via hellosandwich

Drawing on old chests

drawers remade into kitchen units, via dornob

drawers remade into chest, via dornob

These reinvented chest of drawers are amazing. Not only is the process of salvaging individual drawers from a life in despair at the local landfill commendable, but the combining of separate drawers with completely different histories and origins into a new frame of life is truly inspirational. That is the romantic DRAWING card for me here; igniting new life into the old and creating a unique aesthetic and functionality to each piece. I absolutely love the aesthetic of this work.

Although Hamburg based design company entwurf-direkt creates single drawer-shelves as well for attachment on walls and also for stacking; I have to  point out for my own records that although old is brought into new life, it is still serving the same function as it once had and has not completely been remade and rethought into a new function. It is a combination of the two. Hence, an alternative take on the idea of remaking. 1/2 remake.

I also like how the designers stamp and number their works. This creates another meaning to the pieces as they make their way out into the big world of people's homes and become part of a larger system.

assorted pieces. via dornob

It's interesting that some photos are taken outside of the chest of drawers. Interesting choice of environment. I wonder how this concept could be translated into an intervention in the landscape. Reinventing drawers from the landscape. How can I conceptualise the idea of drawers into the landscape?

Functional and decorative vinyl wall stickers

via cool hunting:

As a non-home owner I've had to rethink how I decorate my home so to not end up either evicted or short on getting my rental bond deposit back from the agency because 

a. the landlord have no taste 

b. the agency want to make a quick buck. 

 (for those of you who don't know, any major and seemingly permanent alterations to a rental property need approval from landlord before being pursued in Australia, if you fail to do so you need to either rectify the modification upon moving out or pay a fee so that the landlord/agency can pay someone to do it for you. The latter is often over estimated and will end up costing you more than it should).
So therefore I cannot be bothered to do any major or seemingly permanent alterations to my rental as I know that I won't be here for that long.

birds on power lines

birch trunks

Instead, I drool over these vinyl wall stickers that can be removed from your wall and that won't leave you out of pocket, more than the cost of the stickers.

wall calendar

coat hanger

This cost can be larger if you choose to go to the Ferm Design website and buy any of their hot stickers (these are great as some of them have a function too, such as the periodic table,  calendar, chalkboards and as coat hangers).

The cost can be small if you choose to go on ebay and buy them off a South Korean company called The IUM that give you plenty of choice and deliver cheap to Australia. Up to you.

our removable nursery wall sticker

I went for the latter, left is a picture of the nursery wall that I decorated for my daugther. She loves to stare at it when I change her. Children see high contrasts in black, white and red best in the first year of their life. It was easy to assemble and I'll have to get back to you in terms of how well it comes off.